Janice

My latest art doll, "Janice," was created with photo printed fabric (from my Golden Maple shattered photo), yarns, sequins and a recycled paper pulp face.

She's a bit different from "Cherish" (my first art doll) who's a bit more serene-looking, and not just in the face. Janice will make her public debut at the Salt Fork River Art Festival at Sleepy Creek Vineyards in Fairmount, Illinois, September 24-25th. I also hope to have with me a few more art quilts, in addition to the matted prints, pendants and the framed layered photos.

Netherwing Egg (World of Warcraft)

I collect eggs. I inherited my grandmother's collection, and have been collecting myself for years, plus I also make them, not just for Easter. I also play World of Warcraft, and have collected Netherwing Eggs to gain rep, to get a Netherwing mount. Hours and hours of collecting eggs to increase my faction reputation... ANYWAY, I have been disappointed that Blizzard Entertainment has never offered a Netherwing Egg collectible. So disappointed, in fact, I decided to make my own.

Here is my inspiration

 

 

 

I found some glass chandelier-style crystal points (in the DIY wedding stuff at Hobby Lobby). Once I had the most important element, I was ready to start the rest. (I don't have photos of the whole process - sorry!)

I took a sheet of aluminum foil and crumpled it into a rough egg shape, about the size of a goose egg. It needed to be firm, but not compacted so tightly I couldn't get a pencil pushed into it. I used purple and brown polymer clay (needed more purple, in hindsight) to approximate the color of the eggs. I didn't worry about getting the color perfectly uniform, because the eggs are a bit mottled. I flattened my clay into a sheet (maybe 3/8" thick..?) and wrapped it around my foil egg, carefully smoothing the seams.

Once satisfied with the clay's irregular surface, I took a pencil and pushed it into the egg in six places, through the clay and into the foil, then tested each hole with a crystal to make sure it was in deeply enough, but not too deep. I flattened the bottom by pressing it firmly onto the parchment paper-lined glass pan and baked it for 275ºF for about 15 minutes.

Before baking

Once the egg was completely cool, I pressed the crystals back into the holes. They fit snugly enough, that no glue was needed.

Finished Netherwing Egg

I'm really happy with the way it turned out. The color's off a bit, and it could use more texture on the surface, but for a first attempt, it's awesome, and was instantly recognizable by my WoW friends.

Not bad, eh?

Cupcake Bouquet (Tutorial)

My daughter's 14th birthday is this weekend. The theme has sort of evolved into Cupcakes. Giant Wilton cupcake pan, cupcake paper plates and wrapping paper, and one giant stuffed plush cupcake (from Gramma). I thought it would be cute to make a bouquet of flowers that looked like cupcakes. Here's how I did it.

The supplies: 6 silk carnations, 6 2.5 in. Styrofoam balls, cupcake liners, and glitter glue. The Mylar film, ribbon and cylinder box are for the vase.

Cut the ends off the balls so you get sort of a small cookie-shaped piece.

 Foam "cookie"

Roll the edge of the "cookie" on a hard surface to flatten it, and to make sure it fits in the cupcake liner.

Remove the flower from the stem, poke the stem into the center of the Styrofoam. Try to keep the stem perpendicular.

Push it all the way through so you get a nice, clear hole.

Put hot glue in a circle in the bottom of the cupcake liner. DO NOT get it in the center - you need to poke the stem through that.

Using a knife, remove a cone-shaped piece from the center of the Styrofoam, around the hole. This will accommodate the bottom of the carnation, making it sit deeper in the cup. (If you're using flowers other than carnations, that have a flatter base, you might be able to skip this part.)

Poke the stem through the hole, top down, out the bottom of the cup. This will mark where you push the stem through the other way so you can reattach the flower.

Put the flower back on the stem, snugging it down into the Styrofoam cookie.

Run a little hot glue around the bottom, to hold the cup in place.

Cute, huh? You can stop here, or...

Put some glitter glue on a piece of waxed paper.

Dab your flower in the glitter glue, adding a little color and sparkle to the tips of the petals.

Like sprinkles on a cupcake!

I used a raised cake rack to put them in to try, to keep them from touching each other and transferring glue, and to keep all surfaces exposed to air for drying.

Here's the vase they'll sit it once the glitter glue has dried. The ribbon is held in place with double-stick tape. After the party this weekend, this can go in her room, and no glass to break!

Recycling, Revamping, Renewing

I was clearing out my closet of old things I hadn't worn in a while, and looked at my broomstick skirts (which I love) with dismay. I hadn't worn them in ages either... by that reasoning, they should go too. But the main reason I hadn't worn them is because they're just too long for me. They don't drag the ground, I'm not that short, but they aren't flattering and I end up looking like I'm standing in a hole. So I thought I'd shorten them to knee length, the length of a skirt I have that I get compliments wearing.

Taking the oldest one first, a thrift store find so that if it didn't work out would not be a great tragedy, I put it on and stood with a yardstick at my side and noted the length determining that it needed to be 14 inches shorter (eep!). Then I ironed out the crinkle so I could get a reasonably flat surface to mark my cut line, marked from the hem up, and cut. Weeeeellll... 12 inches would have been better... not only did I have a seam allowance to adjust for, but most broomstick skirts are also circles, or nearly so, and a whole lot of weight sits at the hem. When all that comes off (over 5 yards in length), the fabric (in this case cotton voile) isn't pulled down so much. It's not a huge error, the skirt is still wearable, but when you're used to cargo shorts that reach your knees, having your knees exposed takes getting used to. The plus side to all that fabric coming off is that I have lots of scrap material to use to embellish a tank I dyed for something else, that turns out is a perfect match for one of the colors in the newly-shortened skirt. I already hemmed up a length of it for a scarf to tie my hair back, and I'm making little yo yo flowers to trim the neckline of the tank.

Flushed with my success, I went to my closet and took out 4 more skirts to shorten. Happily, 2 of them were tiered, so I just had to rip seams and re-hem. (Huzzah! not... it took me much longer to rip out all those stitches than it did to mark and cut. Ah well, at least I know the edges were reasonably straight.) I then did the other 2 voile skirts, trimming and hemming. Woo! 5 "new" skirts!

Top: the 3 voile skirts and their new elastic; Bottom: the 2 tiered skirts

One of the unfortunate realities of broomstick skirts is their tendency for the elastic to die, which means either replacing it, or relying on the drawstring to keep the thing up. The problem with the drawstring is that it never gathers the fabric evenly as elastic will do. So yesterday I decided I'd replace the elastic in the 3 voile skirts, and managed to do so without too much trouble, though the safety pin came undone a couple times, and I swore quite a bit, struggling with getting the elastic threaded into their casings. I finished 2 of them, started the 3rd, and discovered I'd lost all patience, setting it to the side to finish today.

I went online looking for tips for threading elastic, and most everyone mentioned the safety pins paper clips, which I'd used to varying degrees of success. I even tried using a diaper pin (won't come undone), but it was too big by just a fraction to fit nicely into the casing and I didn't want to tear the skirt up trying to force it through. What to do, what to do... I saw one suggestion for using a bodkin (which is designed for this), but that would have meant waiting for the store to open, and I wanted to finish now. Looking at a ball point pen on my desk, I thought if I could somehow attach the elastic to it, I could thread that through easily.

What I ended up doing (after removing the writing part of the pen) was to cut a slit with my X-Acto in the fat end (this particular pen is tapered a bit) about an inch long. Actually it was 2 slits, parallel (more or less), then the narrow ends cut, making a thin rectangular hole lengthwise at the base of the pen. I also "shaved" the edges of my hole with the X-Acto, removing any rough spots that could potentially snag on any threads in the casing. Then I used a small gold safety pin, attached my elastic, and hooked the "head" of the pin in the slit I'd made. That made the pin's closure sort of sink into the barrel of the pen, (hopefully) preventing it from opening up before I wanted it to.

It's not pretty, but it worked like a charm!

What a difference! The pen was lightweight, smooth plastic, easy to grasp, and zipped right through the casing, pulling the elastic behind it, and I was finished so quickly I was kicking myself for not coming up with the idea sooner.

Pulled right through, no snagging, very slick and smooth!

To Boldly Go...

All my previous Word Pendants have had a short phrase either indirectly referring to the kaleidoscoped image (or the original photo) or inspired by it in some way. When I found the word "boldly" in one of the books I was recycling, the iconic phrase from Star Trek*, "to boldly go" popped into my head, and I decided to use it, and hunted up the other two words.

It's a good phrase anyway, so even if a Trek fan doesn't snatch it up, surely someone can appreciate the idea.

*The full phrase is (of course): "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its 5-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

Layered Photos

These are some of the layered photos I did Sunday. Had intended to frame them up today, but health prevented it. :P Some of the ones I did I'm not happy with, and will redo. But for now, here's a little eye candy:

Blackberry Lily

Sun in the Trees

Canvas Rose

Coleus

Monstera Leaf

Rose After the Rain (w/ Diamond Glaze droplets)

Snowy Branches

Tigerlily

Trumpet Vine (w/ Diamond Glaze droplets)

Waterfall

White Rose

"Word" Pendants

My "word" pendants are made with small versions of the kaleidoscoped photos, plus an inch-square piece, made with a pieced background of pastel chalk and words clipped from recycled books. Each is unique.

These are part of what I've been up to for the "30 Days of Creativity" challenge.